Halladay Latest Victim of No Offense, Houston Edges Phillies Again
August 26th, 2010
Phillies ace Roy Halladay went seven innings in another fine effort on Wednesday. But the Phils offense once again provided no support. Halladay made 2 mistakes, a fourth inning 2 out solo homer to Houston rightfielder Hunter Pence and a sixth inning solo shot to centerfielder Michael Bourn. Meanwhile, former Phil, Astros lefthander J.A. Happ held the Phils hitless through four innings until rightfielder Jayson Werth’s leadoff fifth inning homer briefly tied the score at 1-1. The enemic short-circuited Phillies offense could do nothing as Happ and the Astros bullpen again looked like world-beaters instead of a mediocre group playing out the 2010 string. Pitcher Halladay led off the sixth with a single and scored on 3rd baseman Placido Polanco’s RBI double for the Phils only other run as they momentarily tied the game at 2-2. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, the Phils had runners on 1st and 3rd base with 2 out. But leftfielder Ben Francisco was picked off of 3rd base to nip the only other Phillies scoring threat. The Astro bullpen took care of the rest over the final 2 innings allowing the Phils only Ryan Howard’s pimch hit single in the ninth as Roy Halladay was the latest victim of no offense as Houston edged the Phillies again by a 3-2 score in series game 3.
The Phils blew their 5th opportunity in 7 games to gain ground on Atlanta and remained remained 2 1/2 games behind NL East-leading Braves who were again beaten in a slugfest, after losing a big lead, by Colorado. Having suffered their 3nd loss to Houston, the Phils remained a tie with the San Francisco Giants for the NL wildcard lead. The Giants also lost a slugfest to Cincinnati. The St. Louis Cardinals remained 1 game back of the Phils and Giants after again losing to Pittsburgh. The Mets and Florida Marlins continued jockeying for 3rd place with the Marlins now holding 3rd after edging the Mets. The Marlins are now 9 games behind the division-leading Braves while the Mets remain 9 1/2 games back.
The AP game recap for Yahoo describes the most recent controversial call of the series which centered around Francisco being picked off to end the Phils’ seventh inning scoring threat:
For the third straight night, a disputed call by the umpires was a factor in the outcome. With Jimmy Rollins batting, runners at first and third and the Phillies down a run in the seventh, catcher Humberto Quintero picked Ben Francisco off third base to end the inning.
Francisco appeared to get his foot tangled up with third baseman Chris Johnson’s foot and was called out by third base umpire Greg Gibson. Third base coach Sam Perlozzo and manager Charlie Manuel argued, but neither was ejected.
Quintero hit a two-out single in the seventh to give the Astros a 3-2 lead. Chris Johnson doubled and scored on Quintero’s liner to left.
There’s little more that can be said about this latest Phillies bummer.
Having blown 5 out of 5 opportunities within a week to catch the Braves, Phillies fans must now fear that they will not catch the division-leaders as it seems unrealistic to think that the Braves will continue losing. And the Phils, finishing out a less than successful homestand, head west on Friday for a potentially tough 7 game roadtrip. 3 of those games will be against the West division-leading and red-hot San Diego Padres, 3 against those pesky L.A. Dodgers and a make-up game vs the tough Colorado Rockies.
To view the scores of all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In Thursday’s final, Kyle Kendrick tries avoid an embarrassing Astros sweep and to salvage 1 game from a series where the Phils should have won at least 3. Kendrick is opposed by lefthander Wandy Rodriguez for Houston.
To view the schedule of all of Thursday’s games, click here.





